Not Everyone Has Access to Healthy Food

Imagine feeling hungry, opening the fridge or pantry, and finding it empty or only stocked with so-called junk foods, like ready meals or potato chips. This kind of food might fill you up for a while, but it lacks the vitamins and minerals the body really needs. Now imagine this happening all the time, not just once in a while. Sadly, this is the reality for many people around the world. In 2025, around one in seven UK households (approximately seven million adults and three million children) are living with what is known as food insecurity.

What is Food Insecurity?

Food insecurity happens when people do not have enough money to buy, or lack access to, nutritious foods required to live a healthy lifestyle. This means people go hungry or are forced to rely on cheaper foods, often higher in fat, salt, sugar, and calories. Frequently eating these types of foods over a long period of time can lead to an unhealthy body weight or obesity, which can seriously affect health.

The Food Insecurity and Obesity Puzzle

It may sound confusing—how can someone with limited access to food be living with obesity? There are several reasons why this might happen (Figure 1). First, food insecurity is not just about feeling hungry or not being able to afford food at all, it is also about not getting the right kinds of food, like fruits, vegetables, or whole grains. These foods are important to help our bodies grow strong and protect us from illnesses like diabetes, heart disease, or some forms of cancer. Unfortunately, healthy foods tend to be expensive, partly because they take more time, care, and money to grow, store, and transport. In contrast, junk foods are usually cheaper because they cost less to make, last longer on supermarket shelves, and are often made with lower-cost ingredients.

The stress caused by living with food insecurity can also contribute to obesity. Not knowing when you will next eat can make people eat more when food is available, especially comfort foods. Additionally, to support their families, people may have to work multiple jobs and may not have enough time or energy to cook healthy meals. They also may not have the equipment to store (e.g., fridge), prepare (e.g., knives), or cook (e.g., oven) healthy foods. Instead of eating healthy meals throughout the day, people may skip meals or eat convenience foods, which are not always healthy. This can lead to weight gain, even if someone is struggling with food insecurity.

Last, sometimes what you eat is influenced by where you live. For example, some people live in food deserts—neighborhoods that do not have large grocery stores. Instead, food deserts tend to have smaller convenience stores that sell a limited variety of healthy foods, often at a higher price. Others can live in food swamps—neighborhoods with many fast-food restaurants and not enough healthy eating options.

Unequal Access to Healthy Food in the UK

In the UK, about two-thirds of adults are living with overweight or obesity. More worryingly, children living in poorer areas of the country are five times more likely to be living with obesity than children from wealthier neighborhoods. That is a huge problem because childhood obesity can have long-term health impacts. Sadly, poorer families in the UK would need to spend 70% of their disposable income (the money they have left after paying all their bills) to buy the healthy foods needed to meet the UK government’s healthy eating guidelines. In contrast, wealthier families would only need to spend 12% of their disposable income to purchase these healthy foods. This big difference highlights a serious issue, known as dietary inequality, where not everyone has equal opportunities to eat a healthy, balanced diet. Dietary inequalities raise important questions about fairness in our food system and the urgent need for change to make it fairer for everyone. This is a growing global issue, but the UK is taking action—for example, through recent High Fat, Salt, and Sugar (HFSS) policies designed to reduce consumption of unhealthy products, which was also a focus of our research [1].

What Can Scientists Do to Help?

As scientists, we want to help solve the problems of food insecurity and obesity through our research. This is why we started a project called Food Insecurity in People Living with Obesity (or FIO Food, for short) [2]. Our goal is to provide scientific evidence to decision makers in government to help them support people who are struggling to purchase healthier, more environmentally sustainable food in the grocery store.

To achieve this, we have done three main things. First, we have listened to people who live with food insecurity and obesity to understand the real-life challenges they face when shopping for food. We used a large survey, as well as individual interviews, with people experiencing food insecurity and living with obesity. Second, we studied shopping habits by analysing real-world data from millions of grocery store shoppers to look at the foods people buy to see what might help them make healthier food choices when shopping. Third, we interviewed representatives from different supermarkets to better understand how healthy food is priced, and how supermarkets can realistically help people with food insecurity and obesity make healthier choices.

Worrying About Food Affects Bodies and Minds

Our research showed that people living with obesity and food insecurity want to eat a healthy diet, and they use different strategies to achieve this [3, 4]. For example, they search online or on grocery apps before going to the supermarket to find the best prices for the healthy foods they want to buy. They carefully plan where to buy their healthy foods to keep within their food budget, which usually involves shopping at multiple stores. People experiencing food insecurity are often limited to buying cheaper, less nutritious foods (like fish cakes instead of fresh fish) or more affordable healthy foods, even though they do not like the taste of them [4]. These challenges often leave them feeling emotional and sad [4], and other scientists have found that people with food insecurity are more likely to have mental health problems like anxiety or depression [5].

The Stigma of Food Insecurity and Obesity

Stigma occurs when others view a person negatively because of a trait or characteristic the person has. In this case, people could experience stigma from others related to their body weight and because they struggle to afford food. Experiences of stigma can negatively impact people’s mental wellbeing and can result in certain shopping behaviors. While many people make a shopping list and take the time to find the foods they need, people experiencing stigma may feel less comfortable in the grocery store, as if other people are watching and judging what they are putting in their baskets. This can lead them to shop as quickly as they can, rushing in and out the store, which can result in less healthy food choices [3].

Knowing About Healthy Diet is not Enough

People living with obesity and food insecurity know what a healthy diet consists of [3, 4]; however, their limited budgets often prevent them from buying the healthy foods they want and need. Previous government campaigns to reduce obesity in the UK focused on changing the behavior of individuals, mainly through education, telling them what they should or should not be eating. These interventions often do not work because they do not consider whether people have enough money to buy healthy foods or if they have the equipment needed to prepare or cook these foods. It is argued that, in the future, changes to government policy are needed to make sure all citizens have not only enough knowledge, but also enough money to buy healthy foods. This could be achieved by ensuring employees are paid a living wage, increases in government financial support, and extending programs such as free school meals for all children.

Supermarkets Need Support Too

People living with obesity and food insecurity want more discounts in supermarkets to help them buy healthier, more environmentally sustainable foods. But it is not always easy for supermarkets to do this because fresh foods cost a lot for supermarkets to buy and do not make much profit. If shops made fresh foods even cheaper, they could lose money. That is why government support is important—to help supermarkets lower prices fairly, so that healthy choices are affordable for everyone.

Working Together!

Research alone is not enough to change the food system. Therefore, we frequently share our results with government and the food industry to push for better food policies, like cheaper fruits and vegetables, and more supermarket discounts on healthy food. We believe researchers, supermarkets, policy makers, and the people affected by food insecurity and obesity all need to work together to find solutions to these issues. This approach is known as co-production, which became popular in the 1970s when researchers observed that services improve when the people they aim to help are actively involved in the research process. For instance, the school canteen menu would likely be more appealing if students were consulted about their food preferences!

What You Can Do

Even if you are not buying your own food yet, you can still be part of the change (Figure 2)! When scientists, grocery stores, families, and young people like you all work together, we can create a world where healthier food, which is also kinder to the planet, is accessible and available for everyone.

Glossary

Food Insecurity: ↑ Happens when families cannot always get enough safe and healthy food to stay healthy. This is often because they do not have enough money, or their living situation is unstable.

Obesity: ↑ A health condition where someone has too much body fat, often measured by body mass index (BMI).

Comfort Foods: ↑ Foods people eat when sad or worried; usually very tasty and high in fat, salt, or sugar, but not very nutritious and easy to overeat.

Convenience Foods: ↑ Foods that are almost ready to eat when they are bought and can be prepared quickly and easily.

Food Deserts: ↑ Places where people cannot find nearby stores that sell healthy and affordable food, like fruits and vegetables. This makes it hard for them to get fresh, healthy food.

Food Swamps: ↑ Areas full of fast-food places and convenience stores selling unhealthy foods. There are many more of these than stores with fresh, healthy foods, making it harder to find nutritious options.

Diet Inequality: ↑ Means that some people have a harder time getting healthy, affordable food. This can happen because of where they live, how much money they have, or their education, which can affect what they eat and how healthy they are.

Food System: ↑ All the people, institutions, and companies involved in feeding people, including production, processing, distribution, consumption, and dealing with food waste.

Conflict of Interest

AJ holds voluntary committee roles within The UK Nutrition Society, Association for the Study of Obesity and British Nutrition Foundation. CH was a Co-Investigator on a research grant funded by the American Beverage Association (paid to institution), receives honoraria for their role on the Global Nutrition Advisory Council for Mars (paid to institution), is primary supervisor on a PhD studentship funded by Coca-Cola, reports personal fees for their role on the UK Government’s Food Standards Agency’s Advisory Committee on Social Sciences, reports previous receipt of personal honoraria from International Sweeteners Association and International Food Information Council, and reports an unpaid role as a trustee of Feeding Liverpool.

The remaining author(s) declared that this work was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Acknowledgments

This research was funded through the Transforming the UK Food System for Healthy People and a Healthy Environment SPF Programme, delivered by UKRI, in partnership with the Global Food Security Programme, BBSRC, ESRC, MRC, NERC, Defra, DHSC, OHID, Innovate UK and FSA (BB/W018020/1 - FIO Food award).

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